Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Mohammed Azharuddin,Ajay Jadeja and Robin Singh
Anand Vasu01-Jun-2000Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Mohammed Azharuddin,Ajay Jadeja and Robin Singh. On paper that’s a truly formidable lineup. But 277 to win off 50 overs is a formidable challenge. A challengethat India were not up to on this occasion, succumbing to 205 all outin the Asia Cup encounter against Sri Lanka at the Bangabandhu stadiumon Thursday.An almost run a ball 93 from Tendulkar kept India in the running tillthat 36th over but when he pulled a ball from Weeraratne to the squareleg fence. Jayawardane took a well judged catch on the ropes and thatwas the end of the road for India. When Sachin’s wicket fell there wasstill a lot of work to be done. Needing over hundred runs off lessthan 90 balls, the load fell squarely on the broad shoulders of RobinSingh. One again the restrictive bowling of the Lankans kicked in andSingh nicked one through to Kaluwitharana.A Mumbai ‘all rounder’ in the shape of Ajit Agarkar did what he ismost famous for and departed without scoring a run. At 174/8 theIndian challenge was truly over. Having lost three wickets in thespace of seven balls without scoring a run, India had succumbedmeekly. From being in the race, India were staring at a humiliatingdefeat.Another ‘all rounder’, this time from Delhi, Nikhil Chopra followedand he too could do precious little as India slumped to a 71 rundefeat.Earlier in the innings Ganguly failed to replicate his performance ofyesterday and was choked into giving away his wicket. Sri Lankancaptain Sanath Jayasuriya stacked the off side field and to hisdelight Chaminda Vaas and Nowan Zoysa responded by bowling the ball injust the right spot. A frustrated Ganguly could not pierce the ring offielders on the offside and nicked the ball through to Kalu off thebowling of Vaas.Sunil Joshi was sent in to pinch hit but as he has done many times inthe past played one good shot and departed soon after. If the pinchhitting experiment was a failure, the arrival of Dravid at number fourwas another exercise in futility. Hitting the ball crisply to thefielders, Dravid was unable to get the scoreboard ticking over. In adrama replaying itself, Dravid tried to hit his way out of trouble andtapped the ball back to Muralitharan when he was on 24.With Tendulkar batting well at one end, Azhar and Jadeja breezed inand out. Neither contributed significantly to the chase and India wereprecariously placed at 156/5 when Robin Singh joined Tendulkar out inthe middle.The first big clash of the Asia Cup began earlier in the day promisingmuch. After a lacklustre performance against the hosts, India cameback strongly to nab the inform Aravinda de Silva, who struck the ballwith consummate ease on two occasions off the bowling of Kumaran earlyon. Perhaps it was the confidence that was De Silva’s undoing. Drivingon the up, De Silva had to wait long for the ball to arrive and endedup striking the ball high on the bat. Following through, Kumaran stuckhis left hand out and snatched the ball out of the air.After De Silva was dismissed, Jayasuriya played an innings befittinghis status as captain and took the Indian bowling on. Curbing hisnatural stroke making tendencies, Jayasuriya helped himself to acentury against an Indian attack that had no answer to the southpaw.Whether he was cutting ferociously or tapping the ball through thegaps for quick ones and twos, Jayasuriya was in command. Partneredwell by Marvan Attapattu, Jayasuriya took Sri Lanka steadily forward.In a partnership that lasted over a hundred runs, the pair took SriLanka to 162.However, when Attapattu was caught top edging an attempted sweep offTendulkar, Sri Lanka lost their way a bit. Although they had a goodplatform thanks to a mature century from Jayasuriya, it remained to beseen whether they could capitalise on that platform.The fall of four quick wickets reduced the Lankans to 209/6 after 41.4overs. In came Chaminda Vaas. Flat batting the bowling all around thepark, Vaas did what every Sri Lankan fan was waiting for. In aquickfire unbeaten 34 that came off just 26 balls, Vaas took Sri Lankato formidable total. In one Agarkar over, Vaas bludgeoned two sixes,one over mid wicket and the other square of the wicket on the legside. Kaluwitharana played sensibly for his 33 and Sri Lanka ended on276. The last five overs yielded 46 runs and broke the back of theIndians.